In Defense of Usury Laws

B-Tier
Journal: Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking
Year: 2009
Volume: 41
Issue: 8
Pages: 1691-1703

Score contribution per author:

1.009 = (α=2.02 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Usury law is often criticized by economists for curtailing lending and thus creating deadweight costs. This paper shows that if moral hazard leads to credit rationing, a just‐binding usury law creates a deadweight gain. This property also holds in most market‐clearing equilibria. Independent of social insurance benefits, or curbing present‐biased preferences, interest rate caps have merit.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:wly:jmoncb:v:41:y:2009:i:8:p:1691-1703
Journal Field
Macro
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25